It is often desirable to have a foldable and portable stool that may be easily transported from one place to another and used in a variety of outdoor conditions. It is also convenient to provide a portable stool that may be reduced to a small size for ease of carrying and storage. Folding stools have been developed in the past. However, the prior art folding stools have been unstable and difficult to fold and unfold. Sometimes, the prior art folding stools have also been heavy and clumsy.
The present invention provides a foldable stool that is stable and very easy to fold into a very small size. The length of the chair legs may be adjusted without pressing any locking mechanism. The foldable stool may be used even if the chair legs are in a contracted or collapsed position. The foldable stool of the present invention can also conveniently be completely disassembled for easy cleaning or storage. The stool of the present invention has a linking mechanism for the legs that has many safety features to prevent any undesirable collapsing of the stool when a person is sitting on the stool. More particularly, the present invention is a foldable stool that has a triangular shaped seat with three upper legs attached to the corners of the seat. A leg holder is attached to the bottom portion of etch upper leg. Each leg holder has a longitudinal opening defined therethrough. The leg holders also define a lateral opening that has an asymmetrical shape. A Y-shaped central connector unit rotatably holds the leg holders together. The connector has irregular shaped extensions that are insertable into the asymmetrically shaped lateral openings of the leg holder when the leg holder is turned into a first position. After the extension is inserted, the leg holder may be rotated into a second position to securely hold the leg holder and so that the upper leg can be inserted into the leg holder and rest on a circular seat or flange that is disposed inside the leg holder. A lower leg may be inserted from the opposite side of each leg holder until a spring biased knob on the lower leg snaps into a second lateral opening defined in the leg holder. When it is desirable to collapse the foldable stool of the present invention, the lower legs may be pushed into the upper leg by pressing the knob to disengage the knob from the leg holder. The upper legs may also be moved together by collapsing the leather seat so that the upper legs are substantially parallel. The upper legs may then be held together in the collapsed position by a strap.
In addition, the foldable stool of the present invention may have additional leg segments that includes a first lower engagement mechanism that is attached to the first lower leg. The first lower engagement mechanism protrudes radially outwardly from the first lower leg and is movable between a lock position and a release position and insertable through the first opening of the first upper leg to lock the first upper leg to the first lower leg. The first lower engagement mechanism has a lower release surface upwardly protruding at a first acute angle relative to the first lower leg and an upper release surface so that the lower release surface and the upper release surface form a second acute angle.